Tomasz Adamek moved forward yet another step in the heavyweight division, with a 12-round majority decision over Cris Arreola, in front of nearly 7,000 spectators at The Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario , CA . The see-saw battle featured numerous shifts in control, but Arreola’s lack of output seemed to be the factor, as Adamek was able to box his way to victory in most rounds. He more than held his own during exchanges, however, and caused swelling over Arreolas eyes.

While the former Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight world champion was wobbled on occasion, he never appeared significantly hurt. Arreola kept his energy up, but was unable to catch Adamek when the Polish fighter went on the retreat. The fans were as back and forth as the fighters. The Mexican fans and Polish fans took turns cheering and booing the fighters and each other... in a loud, raucous arena.

At the post fight press conference, Arreola revealed he had injured both hands… the left in the 3rd round, and the right in the 10th. Replays showed him wincing on multiple occasions after landing shots. While Arreola conceded “Adamek is a great fighter.. with a hard head”, he was unimpressed with his chin and power. “I hurt him with jabs”, said the Riverside native. Despite large numbers of Polish fans in attendance, Kathy Duva expressed her displeasure at having to come to California for the fight, stating the Polish fighter’s career would be “heading back to New Jersey ”. She again reiterated this sentiment, after contender Tony Thompson challenged Adamek.

At the same conference, Promoter Gary Shaw did most of the talking for his “loyal perro” Alfredo Angulo. Angulo, who sheepishly admitted he was not much of a public speaker, had just knocked out Joel Julio with a single right hand in the 11th round of a Junior Middleweight bout. Angulo’s pressure forced Julio to use unheralded boxing skills. While it was effective at first, Angulo’s pressure gradually closed the gap. Midway through the 11th, Julio was dropped hard as the two traded right hands. While Julio rose at eight, and looked ready to continue, the referee waved it off. Julio said he should have been allowed to continue, and that he thought he was ahead. However, the judges had Angulo winning by scores of 96-94, and 97-93 twice. Angulo retained his WBO Interim Title. Shaw said Angulo’s plans may include Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto. Oddly, Shaw did not mention his own fighter, Sergei Dzindzruk, who is full WBO champion.

In an eight round Junior Featherweight special attraction, unbeaten Rico Ramos of Los Angeles won a wide unanimous decision over Reynaldo Lopez. Ramos outboxed Lopez throughout, and was even credited with dubious knockdowns in rounds 2 and 7, on his way to a 79-71, 78-72, and 80-70 win. Lopez falls to 29-9-2 (21 KO’s), while Ramos rises to 16-0 (9 KO’s)

Another L.A. fighter remained unbeaten, as Chris Avalos stopped John Molina, of Colombia, at the end of two rounds. While the former world title challenger never looked seriously hurt, Molina was caught repeatedly in round two, and elected not to continue. Avalos moves to 16-0 (13 KO’s) and retains his NABO Bantamweight title. Molina drops to 27-13-3 (18 KO’s).

In Heavyweight action, Natu Visinia won a slow-paced four-round technical decision over Geovanni Sarran. Sarran, of Lancaster , CA was making his debut against the unbeaten Visinia, now 4-0 (3 KO’s), and looked flabby at 236. However, he was still undersized against the Samoan Visinia, who scaled 273. Visinia, of Gardena , CA controlled most of the action from a distance, and while Sarran was game, he was unable to mount any effective offense. Early in the fourth round, a head clash caused a cut over the right eye of Sarran, which ended matters. Visinia was ahead by a margin of 40-36 on all cards.

In yet more Heavyweight action, Nate James, of Boston , won a lackluster four-round split decision over Alvaro Morales. Morales, of Las Vegas , showed up drastically out of shape, but showed durability. He even closed strong down the stretch, as James’ output remained low. James prevailed on two scorecards, while Morales was inexplicably up 39-37 on the other. James moves to 3-0 (1 KO), while Morales drops to 4-7-5 (0 KO’s).

Marquise Bruce, of Los Angeles , drew in his professional debut with Bakersfield ’s Raul Rodriguez. Bruce appeared to have done enough, but the 154lb bout was scored 38-38 on two cards, while a third had Bruce up 40-36. Rodriguez is now 3-4 (3 KO’s).

This bout featured multiple ring announcers. Vic “The Brick” Jacobs, a Southern California sports journalism personality, announced two of the preliminary bouts, before Michael Buffer took over for the main televised bouts on HBO. It was none too soon, as the crowd had likely tired of Jacobs’ obsessive use of the phrase ‘mano a mano’ and the word “warriors”.